逮捕の安元工作員、転落の逃亡生活…離婚、薬物中毒

【ソウル＝中村勇一郎】北朝鮮製の覚せい剤を密売した容疑で逮捕された韓国在住の元北朝鮮工作員、安明進（アン・ミョンジン）（本名アン・ソンボム）容疑者（３８）が、韓国警察当局の調べに対し、自らも覚せい剤を使用していたと供述していることは、韓国の脱北者社会に衝撃を与えている。
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　横田めぐみさんの目撃証言で脚光を浴び、拉致問題への世論が高まるきっかけの一つを作った安容疑者だが、ここ数年は、詐欺被害や離婚などで苦しい生活が続いていたという。

　警察当局によると、今年６月に逮捕された脱北者が、安容疑者から覚せい剤を購入したと供述。安容疑者の自宅などを捜索したところ、車の中から覚せい剤の吸引器などが見つかった。安容疑者は、少なくとも１年半以上前から覚せい剤を使用したと認めている。

　安容疑者は１９９７年、北朝鮮で８８年から９１年にかけて、横田めぐみさんら日本人拉致被害者を目撃したと証言。その後、０２年の日朝首脳会談で北朝鮮側がめぐみさんら日本人拉致を認めたことから、一躍注目を集めた。

　安容疑者と親しい脱北者の男性は本紙の取材に対し、「以前は日本で本を出版するなど裕福だったが、最近は詐欺にも遭い、困っていた様子だった。それでも派手な生活は変わらず、大金欲しさに密売に手を染めたのではないか」と指摘する。

　安容疑者は９３年に韓国に亡命後、韓国ガス公社に勤務し、職員の韓国人女性と結婚したが、数年前に離婚。その後は、脱北者女性と同居するようになったという。脱北者の男性は「１年ほど前から、やせて顔色も悪く、心配していた」と振り返る。

　関係者によると、安容疑者は「北朝鮮を調査する」として中朝国境付近に行くことが多く、入手した北朝鮮製の覚せい剤を次第に自らも使用するようになった可能性があるという。

　安容疑者逮捕のニュースは、韓国の脱北者社会でも瞬く間に広まった。

　韓国在住の脱北者の多くは韓国社会になじめず、犯罪に加わるケースが多く、社会問題になっている。安容疑者は日本で活動することが多かったため、韓国で友人は少なかったという。

　安容疑者のような有名人の犯罪は特に目を引くこともあり、「脱北者全員がやっていると思われ、非常に迷惑だ」と憤る人も脱北者団体に見られる。

　一方、安容疑者と交流があった「特定失踪（しっそう）者問題調査会」の荒木和博代表は「本当だとしたら非常に残念だ。日本人拉致問題のために一生懸命頑張ってくれたのに」と話している。
（2007年7月11日8時59分 読売新聞）

逮捕の安元工作員、転落の逃亡生活…離婚、薬物中毒 : 国際 : YOMIURI ONLINE（読売新聞）

U.S. Studies Ways To Formally End The Korean War

North's Positive Signals
On Disarmament Raise
Regional Security Hopes
By JAY SOLOMON
July 9, 2007; Page A1

WASHINGTON -- As the Bush administration pushes ahead with North Korea disarmament talks, U.S. strategists also are beginning to study possible ways to formally end more than 50 years of Cold War hostilities between Washington and Pyongyang.

Senior U.S. officials say they are exploring how to implement a peace accord to officially end the 1950-53 Korean War. They say the U.S. hopes to start discussions with North Korea as soon as year end.

In February, North Korea pledged to begin dismantling its nuclear-weapons program in exchange for economic aid and eventually diplomatic relations with the U.S. and its Asian allies. The agreement followed years of on-again, off-again talks involving North Korea, South Korea, the U.S., Japan, Russia and China.

Now, some Bush administration officials hope those so-called six-party talks can evolve into a permanent forum for defusing security threats in Northeast Asia at a time when both Japan and China are bulking up militarily.

After months of delay, signs have emerged in the past few weeks that Pyongyang is moving ahead with its disarmament pledge. By mid-July North Korea is expected to have shut down its Yongbyon nuclear reactor in return for an aid shipment of 50,000 tons of fuel oil, as part of a gradual process that envisions the country eventually normalizing its relations with the U.S., Japan and South Korea.

The recent signals have raised guarded hopes that progress can finally begin toward a formal peace on the Korean peninsula, where a truce has prevailed since 1953. "It's an anachronism we're dealing with," says a senior U.S. official, referring to the continued military standoff there. "We need to make the place more normal."

A broader problem is that the region lacks any formal body to resolve security disputes. As a result, conflicts over territory or resources could escalate rapidly. For the past five decades, the U.S. and its allies have largely sought to ensure regional security through military alliances and U.S. forces stationed in South Korea and Japan.

Since the mid-1990s, the nations now involved in the six-party talks have informally addressed regional security issues through the Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue. The nonofficial body has held annual meetings in which diplomats, academics and military officers from the six countries have discussed issues such as China's mounting military might and North Korean economic reform.

But U.S. officials say a permanent regional security body could provide a channel for Asian nations to resolve disputes -- and would ensure a continued U.S. presence in the region.

U.S. and Asian diplomats foresee a forum along the lines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The 56-member OSCE, for example, aims to avert or contain economic conflicts or potential security threats, and has been credited with helping manage Europe's rapid transformation after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Bush administration officials stress that pursuing broader regional security aims in Northeast Asia would be contingent upon North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's regime permanently dismantling its nuclear-arms programs.

Two weeks ago, Pyongyang allowed a visit by a diplomatic team from the International Atomic Energy Agency, paving the way for the return of weapons monitors this month. IAEA staffers say North Korea is beginning to prepare for the shutdown of Yongbyon, the plutonium-based reactor the U.S. believes has produced enough fuel for as many as 10 atomic bombs. Pyongyang tested a nuclear device last fall.

The second phase of the disarmament process could prove tougher to implement. North Korea is required to declare any advances it may have secretly made in developing a second nuclear-fuel cycle, based on uranium, and the amount of plutonium it has extracted from the Yongbyon reactor's spent fuel. Some U.S. negotiators fear Pyongyang's military could view these steps as the equivalent of providing strategic secrets to the enemy.

If the disarmament process proceeds, the Bush administration hopes to start discussing a formal peace treaty with Pyongyang by year end, says Christopher Hill, the assistant secretary of state leading Washington's talks with North Korea. A working group headed by Russia, meanwhile, has begun to look into longer-term security arrangements in Northeast Asia.

The U.S. has held meetings with both South Korea and Japan on how to frame a permanent peace on the peninsula, U.S. diplomats say. A crucial issue is how to maintain Washington's military alliances with the two nations if the North Korean threat -- which has been the main justification for those alliances -- disappears.

Lim Sungnam, South Korea's deputy envoy to the six-party talks, said in an interview that Seoul would like to see the peace process take place "sooner rather than later," but that the six countries haven't yet discussed precise timing. Nor has Seoul started to focus on details like the future of U.S. troops in the region.

Mr. Lim says the key thing is that North Korea first fulfill its pledge to denuclearize, and not use the complex issues involved in any peace process as an excuse for further delays.

Japan would like to see more stability in the region, especially given China's rise as a regional power, though it has its own tensions with North Korea. Tokyo began talks with Pyongyang in 1991 aimed at establishing diplomatic ties but abandoned them in 2002, after evidence emerged that North Korea had abducted Japanese citizens in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Pyongyang's test-firing of missiles into the Sea of Japan in July 2006 further raised tensions.

Many regional analysts say that merging the interests of South Korea and Japan will be a crucial step in laying a groundwork for peace with Pyongyang.

In studying a possible approach to formal peace talks, U.S. officials are dusting off models explored by previous U.S. administrations. They range from holding direct talks with North Korea to four-party discussions including U.S., North Korea, South Korea and China, to today's six-party format.

U.S. and Korean officials said the four-party format appears most likely; the U.S. views Beijing's and Seoul's participation as central to a lasting peace.

While Beijing backs a peace deal, it could seek to distance itself from any direct involvement. China's Communist government traditionally has been an ally of North Korea's, but has grown increasingly fed up with Pyongyang. It is also eager to be regarded as more in step with the rest of the world.

Participating directly in peace talks could put Beijing in the uncomfortable situation of having to side with Pyongyang. "China wouldn't mind just outsourcing responsibility on this matter," says Jin Canrong, an associate dean at Renmin University of China.

A key issue will be the nearly 30,000 U.S. troops still in South Korea. U.S. forces were first sent there in 1950 after soldiers led by Mr. Kim's father, Kim Il Sung, invaded the South. The two sides later signed a U.N.-brokered armistice, but not a formal peace treaty.

As part of any formal peace pact, North Korea and South Korea would need to agree how to dismantle the demilitarized zone that now divides the two countries. They would also have to resolve significant territorial disputes.

Both Koreas are both publicly committed to reunification, but the terms and time frame remain under debate. South Korean officials say their primary motive is to keep the North "stable." North Korean leaders and left-leaning South Korean politicians have long criticized the U.S. troops in Korea as a tool of American imperialism.

Chinese military planners also would be expected to question the justification for keeping U.S. forces in Korea in the wake of any peace deal. Even some Pentagon planners are skeptical of the need if a formal peace is reached.

Still, many diplomats and analysts said they wouldn't write off a continued U.S. troop presence. Many U.S. and Asian officials who have met with North Koreans say Pyongyang views a longer-term U.S. presence as a potential counterweight to China's growing economic and military might in the region.

U.S. Studies Ways To Formally End The Korean War - WSJ.com

統一部「北朝鮮支援モニタリング」に穴

北朝鮮で災害が発生した時に、政府が支援した救援物資が「人道主義的支援」という趣旨に応じて使用されているかをチェックする事後管理が不十分なことがわかった。

１０日、統一部によると、政府は昨年７月に発生した北朝鮮の豪雨災害の復旧のために、同年８月から先月まで、２２１０億ウォン相当の物資を支援したが、支援物資がどこに使われたのかを確認する「事後検証（モニタリング）」はまだ始まっていない。

昨年、北朝鮮に対する災害救援物資支援計画を発表し、「被害復旧物資が、正しい用途で使われているか、被災地域を訪れて確認する」と言った約束が守られていなかった。

政府が、大韓赤十字社を通じて支援した物資は、△コメ＝１０万トン、△セメント＝１０万トン、△鉄筋＝５０００トン、△復旧装備＝２１０台、△毛布＝８万枚、△応急救護セット＝１万個や医薬品などだ。

統一部関係者は、「昨年、災害復旧物資を支援する過程で、北朝鮮核実験問題が発生したために物資支援が中断し、今年、支援を再開したものの、状況変化のために（モニタリングに）困難があった」としつつ、「現場訪問や分配明細書の閲覧などについて、北朝鮮と協議する」と述べた。

しかし、すでに支援物資の分配が終わっている可能性が高い状況でモニタリングをすることは、事実上実効性がないという見解が多い。

政府は０４年４月、平安北道（ピョンアンプクト）の龍川（ヨンチョン）駅爆発事故当時も、コメやセメントなどの災害救援物資を支援したが、１年が経った後に現場を訪問し、検証が十分に行われなかったという指摘を受けた。

政府の北朝鮮に対するコメ借款支援へのモニタリングも強化する必要があるという指摘も出ている。

政府は４月、コメ１０万トンを支援する度に、分配が行われる東海（トンヘ、日本名＝日本海）３ヵ所と西海（ソヘ）岸２ヵ所の５ヵ所を訪問することを北朝鮮と合意したが、国際食糧計画（ＷＦＰ）の場合、平壌（ピョンヤン）に事務所を置いて駐在し、北朝鮮が食糧を軍事用に流すかどうかを確認している。

いっぽう、現代峨山（ヒョンデ・アサン）と韓国観光公社が推進している白頭山（ペクトゥサン）観光事業を支援するために政府が提供した１００億ウォン相当の道路舗装用資材の用途も、確認が不可能な状況だ。

政府は０５年８月と昨年３月の２度にわたって、１００億ウォン相当の道路舗装用資材１万６０００トンを北朝鮮に送ったが、昨年７月以降、北朝鮮が「無回答」で一貫し、事業が進んでいない。

統一部関係者は、「事業推進のために、いくつかのチャンネルを通じて北朝鮮と接触しているが、何の返答もなく、困難をきたしている」と述べた。

donga.com [Japanese donga]